Apalachee High School and Habersham Central High School will close out their respective 2017 football seasons Friday at R. Harold Harrison Stadium at 7:30 p.m. with both teams looking for elusive GHSA Region 8-AAAAAA victories.
For the Habersham Central Raiders, it has been a case of “what if” this fall as their eight losses have been by a combined 37 points. Until last Friday’s 40-28 setback to Winder-Barrow, no opponent had defeated Habersham Central by more than seven points. Losses by one point, three points (in three games), four points (in two contests), and seven points to region leader Dacula have haunted the Raiders.
“When you are 1-8 you are 1-8 for a reason but when you watch them on film, you really don’t understand how they could have that record,” AHS coach Steve Sims said. “They are a good team with good athletes.”
Led by quarterback AJ Curry and a host of quality receivers, Habersham Central will present matchup problems for AHS, Sims said.
“We will have to try and keep the football away from them,” he said. “It will take 30 or more points to have a chance. We will have to find a way to get defensive stops as well. We have to be careful because this is certainly not a typical 1-8 opponent.”
The AHS coaching staff will continue to focus on its players this week and hope to build momentum for the offseason.
“For the game, we have to find some way to slow them down,” Sims said. “When we have the football we need to have drives of eight, nine and 10 plays to take time off the clock. It would be huge for us to go into the offseason with a win and playing better and showing growth as a program.
To win a region game would be a positive step for this team and program.”
A victory this Friday would give the Wildcats, who fell to region foe Gainesville 35-12 last week, that springboard into 2018.
“We have a lot of starters coming back,” Sims said. “We still have another week of practice where we can get better. For our seniors, it will be one last time to compete. We would love to be able to send them out on a positive note.”

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